[DISCLAIMER: The following text and illustrations are reproduced from a U.S. War Department
pamphlet published in 1944. The text may be inaccurate, and no attempt has been made to update
or correct the material. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those
of the website.]

WAR DEPARTMENT PAMPHLET NO. 21-10

Pvt. Droop Has Missed The War!

PVT. DROOP is over in the hospital.

When he gets out, he won't be Pvt. Droop any more.

He'll be Dr. Droop—the army can't use a man with a permanently wrecked leg.

Did he fall on the field of battle on some far-off front? Was he trying to save a buddy under raking machine-gun fire?

Nope!

Pvt. Droop was hit by a truck while he was crossing a street in the middle of the block. He was in town on a weekend pass.

He has missed the war—the war he wanted to fight. He has deserted, not from lack of patriotism, but from thoughtlessness.

And he is just one of many droops and 8-balls in this man's army.

They are the guys who take unnecessary chances with their lives.

Hundreds of them have already missed the war. Hundreds more—even thousands—will miss it unless they wise up fast.

How do you rate on personal safety, soldier? Try yourself out on the following simple, off-duty safety questions, and see.

DO YOU DRIVE OVER 35?

THE wartime speed limit was imposed to conserve rubber and to conserve automobiles, but it also conserves lives. Speed, in and of itself, causes relatively few accidents, but speed makes any accident more serious. A crash at 60 miles in hour will not be twice as severe as one at 30 miles an hour. It will be four times as bad. That is why these high-speed accidents involving soldiers that you read about usually result in the death of every last man in the car.

DO YOU RIDE IN OVERLOADED CARS?

IT'S a high-school kid's trick to overcrowd cars, and men who are engaged in soldiering—the most hazardous occupation on earth—are usually far too smart to take chances when chances aren't necessary.

Even so, a man is mighty tempted to go along in an overcrowded car. Best advice here is to let your head do your thinking for you. Few people have survived being thrown from a moving automobile.

DO YOU DRIVE AFTER DRINKING?

IGNORANCE of the effects of alcohol on a man is almost as common as drinking. Nobody is immune to the effects. If you were, there would be no sense in drinking. You get a kick from alcohol because it enters your bloodstream, and travels at once to your brain. Your judgment is impaired and so is your ability to manipulate your arms and legs. This goes for everybody, the so-called good drinker well as for the soldier who gets dizzy if he smells a cork. Nobody is as good a driver after drinking as when he is sober and that is why one driver in nine invoked in fatal accidents has had a couple of beers or more.

DO YOU CONTINUE TO DRIVE AFTER YOU ARE DEAD TIRED?

FATIGUE is almost as treacherous a drug as alcohol, at least in its effect on an automobile driver. That's why soldiers who make these 700- and 800-mile nonstop trips home often never get there. The driver falls asleep at the wheel and the car charges off the road or into an oncoming machine without slackening speed. Even truck drivers who push the big jobs over the roads day in and day out suffer from fatigue. They know the danger best. That is why they stop and get out of the car and exercise to wake themselves up. That is why they occasionally pull off to the side of the road and sleep for an hour or two. Saves time in the long run. Saves lives.

DO YOU WALK ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF COUNTRY HIGHWAYS?

IF YOU DO, you're really asking for it, soldier! Everything is against you, because your back is to approaching cars and you are at the mercy of every near-sighted, drunken, sleepy, indifferent driver on the road. If you walk on the left, facing oncoming vehicles, you can watch cars approach and if they seem to be coming too close or are otherwise suspicious looking you can jump aside and let them pass.

DO YOU CROSS STREETS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK?

IF YOU DO, you are overlooking a very important fact—the fact that between intersections the driver isn't expecting to encounter people on foot. It's between intersections that the driver lights a cigarette, or window-shops, or speeds up to make time. And there you are. Is it surprising that almost half the pedestrians killed are struck down between intersections? This is true even though the overwhelming majority of persons cross where they ought to, at crosswalks.

DO YOU DISOBEY TRAFFIC SIGNALS WHEN WALKING?

DO YOU cross on the green and wait on the red, just as drivers do? If not, you are a droop, and everything you can think up to say in your own defense will be just so much eyewash. Since the reasons for observing the lights are plain, we'll skip an explanation.

DO YOU STAND ON THE HIGHWAY TO HITCHHIKE A RIDE?

AND, as other soldiers line up for the same purpose, do you keep edging farther and
farther out into the highway hoping you will be seen first? Did you ever happen to
be in such a group, perhaps closing half the highway to drivers, when a drunk came
along and knocked the soldiers over like so many tenpins? It has happened before and
it will happen again unless soldiers learn three things: (1) It is dangerous to stand
in the probable path of automobiles, (2) it is undignified for a man representing
the U.S. Army to be begging a ride or anything else, and (3) it is against Army
regulations to hitchhike.

DO YOU RISK YOUR LIFE AFTER DARK ON THE STREETS?

YOU DO—if you assume that just because you can see an
oncoming car, the driver of that car can see you. The fact
is, he frequently can't. Not enough light is reflected by a
soldier's uniform to reach the driver's eyes until too late. That
is how many a soldier has been killed. When you are on foot, assume
the full responsibility for your own safety. To be safe at night, take
it for granted that every driver is stone blind. If he doesn't see
you, he might as well be.

DO YOU GO SWIMMING ANY PLACE AT ANY TIME YOU FEEL LIKE IT?

THERE is no better sport for the soldier than swimming and
no more dangerous sport if the soldier doesn't use his head.
Among the common mistakes that result in drownings are:
Swimming within 2 hours of eating a heavy meal, plunging
into cold water when overheated, diving into water without
knowing its depth, swimming alone, swimming without
being familiar with tide and undertows, swimming at any
unguarded beach. Soldier, avoid these dangerous practices.

DO YOU GO TO FIRETRAP ROADHOUSES AND CABARETS?

THE temptation to patronize firetrap dance halls and cabarets is especially great at stations where
entertainment is scarce. Soldiers, when confronted with this problem, should register a complaint
with the station commander who, by merely threatening to declare the joint out of bounds, can
quickly induce the proprietor to install the necessary safeguards. The Boston tragedy, taking 488 lives,
including many service men was one of the worst in U.S. history. The stage is all set for
repetitions in hundreds of places.

ARE YOU HABITUALLY GUILTY OF A LOT OF DANGEROUS ACTS?

WHAT are they? Well, one-arm driving of an automobile is
an example; so is walking around on streets after drinking
quite a bit. Running for a bus without watching for cars has
resulted in the death of too many soldiers. Soldiers have
burned to death in forest fires caused by their own carelessness
with matches, cigarettes, and campfires. They have
been decapitated by sticking their heads out of railroad car
windows, and have lost arms that way, too. They have
caused huge forest and crop fires by pitching lighted matches
and cigarettes from train windows. Other soldiers have died in these
fires. A soldier's got to use his head all the
time to keep himself and his buddies safe.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
Washington 25, D.C., 5 June 1944.

WAR DEPARTMENT PAMPHLET 21-10, printed from text and illustrations prepared by the
National Safety Council, Inc., in cooperation with the War Department Safety Council, is
published for the information and guidance of all concerned.